


Innocuous

by klutzy_girl



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Angst, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Family, Friendship, Hugs, One Shot, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, mentions of past Miscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 02:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klutzy_girl/pseuds/klutzy_girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arizona finally breaks apart over everything that's happened after a tiny incident.  While it's still tense between them, Callie comforts her wife.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Innocuous

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Grey's Anatomy and never will. No copyright infringement intended.

In the end, something innocuous actually set off Arizona. She had just finished eating lunch in the cafeteria when she dropped her tray and everything fell. Much to her surprise, tears pooled in her eyes. After she cleaned up, Arizona bolted as fast as she could to an on call room, sat down on one of the beds, and started sobbing. And then she couldn’t stop. When Alex stopped in so he could nap, he stared at her. “Arizona, you okay?” He was worried now.

She shook her head. “No.” She didn’t understand why she was crying so much. What was wrong with her?”

Alex stopped an intern and told him to get Callie then sat down next to Arizona and pulled her in for a hug. “I’m sorry about whatever’s wrong.” This wasn’t his first rodeo with an upset Arizona and he wanted to be there for his friend. 

“Thanks.” She choked on a sob and sighed in relief when Callie burst through the door. She was so happy to see her wife even though it was still tense between them.

“What’s wrong? The intern told me that there was an emergency and Arizona needed me. Is it your leg? Sofia? What happened?” Callie’s eyes flittered between them both and took in the situation.

“Arizona is having some issues.” Alex smiled encouragingly at her and then let go of Arizona. She needed Callie right now.

Callie was still angry at her wife, but she didn’t like seeing Arizona so upset. She wasn’t sure what was wrong, but she knew what could help. “Karev, go get Sofia for me please. Her mama needs her.”

Alex nodded and then headed to the daycare to pick up Callie and Arizona’s daughter, leaving the two women alone. “Thanks for coming,” Arizona sobbed. She really wanted to quit, but couldn’t.

“You don’t have to thank for me. You want to tell me what this is about?” Callie wondered if this breakdown had been a long time coming.

“I dropped my tray in the cafeteria.”

“Okay…” Callie didn’t know what to say to that – dropping a tray had set her off? That was pretty weird and she wasn’t sure why it elicited this response. But it made some sense – this had been building up for Arizona for a long time. She started rubbing her back and sighed in relief when Alex walked in with Sofia. The little girl’s face lit up when she saw her mothers. “Hey you. Mama’s upset. You want to give her a hug?”

Sofia nodded and walked over to Arizona. She leaned over so their daughter could hug her. “Thank you. That was very helpful.” She smiled at her and hoped she had succeeded. Sofia started babbling excitedly at them.

Once she made sure Alex could take over for Arizona and that her own patients would be fine (fortunately, Callie didn’t have surgery today), she got the three of them into the car and headed home. Arizona continued to cry for the entire trip. Afterwards, Callie dropped off Sofia at Meredith and Derek’s (neither of them wanted Sofia to see her like this any more than she already had) and then ushered her wife into their apartment. Arizona thanked her as she sat down on the couch. She wanted to stop crying, but it just wasn’t happening. “I’m sorry, Callie.”

“For crying? No big deal.” Callie gave her an encouraging smile. 

“For everything. I’ve been such a bitch since the plane crashed and I’ve been lost in my own world ever since. I can’t stop reliving it. Almost every night, I’m right back there. I thought that getting pregnant would fix us – I wanted to be happy again – but it didn’t. And then then I miscarried and spiraled again. This has been a really shitty year.” It had just gotten worse and worse for Arizona as everything piled up on her.

Callie resisted the urge to start crying herself – that could come later – and started talking to ease some of Arizona’s pain. She was still angry at her wife, but she couldn’t stand to see Arizona like this. “I wasn’t exactly supportive. And you did screw up – pretty badly at one point – but you asked to talk and I ignored you. That was wrong of me. I’m sorry too.”

“And then I fucked another woman. I can’t believe I did that. What was I thinking? And I’m also sorry for Leah, even though we were broken up. But you slept with Mark and gave us Sofia.”

Callie rolled her eyes. “Are you still mad at that? I guess we’re even now.”

“Callie, please.” Her whole body shook with sobs. Arizona couldn’t deal with a fight right now. She was so fucking sick of arguing. 

“Sorry. Now’s not the time. Did you talk to that therapist we were supposed to see together? Maybe they can help,” she suggested.

Arizona nodded. “I talked to her once and decided I didn’t need any help, that I was just fine. But I was wrong, wasn’t I? I do need help.”

“Yeah, you do. But you got me and Sofia. We’re not going anywhere, I promise.” Callie wasn’t about to break it either. She was going to stop making her wife suffer and would help Arizona get the help she clearly needed. Was this Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? She had seen it before with Owen and Cristina so this shouldn’t surprise her, but it did. 

“Thank you.” Arizona knew she didn’t deserve this, but she was going to cling to it anyway. She needed Callie’s forgiveness. 

Callie hugged her and then kissed her forehead. “You okay now? Can you stop crying?”

Tears still slid down Arizona’s face – they were both surprised she had any left in her – but she nodded. “I’m tired.” And she also had a headache. 

“Then go to bed. I’ll be in in a minute.”

Arizona did a double take. She was surprised Callie was actually going to sleep in the same room as her – that was definitely progress. “Okay.” She ended up crying herself to sleep, but that was okay. Callie made an appointment with a therapist for Arizona, and the next morning, she went in to talk with her.

Callie and Arizona also started marriage counseling to get back on track. Arizona’s meltdown had actually helped their marriage just a little. Both (especially Arizona) were finally on the road to recovery and that was great news.


End file.
